According to a Jerusalem Post report, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin’s refusal to permit MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari to address the plenum on the yahrzeit of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D was not his decision alone, but the result of formidable US consular pressure as well.
The report cites that consular Second Secretary Mike Pearlstein was in contact with the speaker, and it was explained to Rivlin that America fears a memorial in Knesset for the slain MK “would be bad for the peace process”, adding US special Mideast envoy George Mitchell was adamantly opposed to permitting such an event in Knesset.
The Post quotes US Embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer as saying “We are all aware of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s history…I think that plainly speaks for itself, that obviously he has a controversial history”.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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16 Responses
The sin of the meraglim was that they said (referring to the people in C’na’an) – “We were like grasshoppers in their eyes, as so we were in OUR eyes “. To see ourselves, Am Yisrael, the Am HaNivchar, the B’nai HaMelech (i.e. Banim laSh-m) as “grasshoppers “, i.e. lowly insects is a huge chilul HaSh-m, and this is PRECISELY what the Knesset leaders are doing when they kiss-up to obama, mitchell. clinton, etc.
The U.S. government (like the Israeli government) hated Rav Kahane ztzvk”l and that is why they did a quickie job with the investigation of his murder.
They just wanted to wrap it up very quickly because, in truth, they were happy someone got rid of him.
Of course we now know that the savage who killed him was connected to the 9/11 World Trade Center attack. Had they fully investigated Rav Meir’s murder, they might have prevented the deaths of THOUSANDS on 9/11. And now the U.S. has the nerve to interfere with Israel’s right to memorialize this great man, who, no matter what you make think of him, did die Al Kidush
HaSh-m! Are there no limits to the disgraceful kissing up to washington? What a boosha!
What a surprise! The two governments that always hated the Rav continue to scheme and conspire against him, why would that be? The only reason is that they know that his positions were real, and the only ones that would work, so they had to make the Rav HYD ztvkl into a racist monster when in fact all the Rav wanted was that the Arabs be treated like Humans, and that we act towards them the way all nations act towards mortal enemies, I pray that we not forget the lessons that the Rav taught us all, directly or through his works, and that we as an Am see what we have been blinded to
May his blood and that of all of the Jewish kedoshim be avenged speedily.
Zecher tzadik livracha!! What an audacity, some nerve to interfere!
#3 Hatzair posted “in fact all the Rav wanted was that the Arabs be treated like Humans”.
Is that why he addressed Arab citizens of Israel as “dogs”?
Some Tzadik.
Starwolf-
You are in fact right, the Rav did often use terms that were harsh. What I meant with my comment was that he did not want to employ a double standard with regards to the Arabs to my understanding he felt that People have to be held to standards of conduct and if they are not living according to those standards then they are to be treated accordingly, it is those who would say that the Arabs should not be punished because they can not help but kill jews that are in fact holding them to a standard beneath human dignity, so yes you are right he might have called them dogs, but the ones who refuse to hold them accountable are the real racists.
Thank you for forcing me to clarify. Gut Shabbos
Whether or not one is a Kahane supporter, I think it’s scary that Oh-bama has control over the Israeli knesset! That is unprecedented chutzpa!
The Baryonim wanted to start up with the Romans and did not follow the advice of the sages.
Hopefully there will never be a Kahane memorial in the knesset.
#8 No, not in the Knesset, which for the most part is a bunch of kofreem and apikorsim, but when the Beis HaMikdash is rebuilt, a real Sanhedrin is re-established, and Israel is truly a JEWISH State, then Rabbi Kahane ztzvk”l will be memorialized as he deserves. He was not perfect, but he was a great man, was truly mosair nefesh for his people and lived and died al Kiddush HaSh-m!
With all the anti-semitism going on (and especially all the contraversy with the Goldstone report) the least blame and accusations on Israel the better! I was upset that he couldnt speak but also slightly grateful because this gives a little less of an excuse for world to accuse us of acting against peace.
As far as #9 goes, I remember reading that since the destruction of the Mikdash, prophecy is left to two groups of people.
Meanwhile, the memorials that he already as are quite enough for most of us.
Starwolf, if you think saying that makes R Meir not a tzadik, then I wonder what you think of Chazal and how they used the posuk אשר בשר חמורים בשרם וזרמת סוסים זרמתם
Milhouse, that one saying is not the only thing that disqualifies Rav Kahane from bing a Tzadik in my mind, and that of other people. It was his oepn hatred of people not like him, and his constant incitements to violence, and his cynical use of the Israeli political system for his own gains.
His major contribution to Jewish society is the addition of hated and discord, and I see no reason to particularly honor him for that.
While I completely reject his political views, of course, in no way do I endorse his murder.
I think the comparison to the Baryonim is assuming alot. That is not to mention that many talmidei chachamim followed R’ M. Kahana HYD and many did not, to paint this simply as a ” O he is a Baryon chazal would have condemned him” is baseless. I would not argue that many of the Rav’s followers have gone astray, I would not even argue that sometimes the Rav or his message were misinterpreted but to argue that he was simply a thug that the Torah and its protectors , chazal and the gedolim would/did/do despise, is innacurate
Starwolf #14 – You obviously did not know Rabbi Kahane. I did. He did NOT incite to violence, unless you call arousing Jews to defend themselves inciting violence. He did not hate people. He was frustrated with the Jewish establishment’s failure to deal with very serious problems, physical, spiritual, and political – both in the U.S. and in Israel. He did not even hate arabs. He would often point out how he, ironically, was the only one who respected them. The Israeli government always thought they could buy arab good will by giving them things. They thought that when they see that they have better housing, medical care, education, etc. than their neighbors in arab countries, that they would love Israel. Rabbi Kahane always said he respected their national aspirations, and to think those aspirations could be bought off was an insult to the arabs. It was for that reason that he recognized that since you “can’t put 10 pounds of sugar in a 5 pound bag” i.e. you can’t have two peoples claiming the same piece of land, that the arabs would have to leave. He advocated trying to accomplish this peacefully if possible. He lived a very modest life materially, spent a lot of time in prison for fighting for a variety of Jewish causes, and most of his “fame” was a negative type of fame. As I stated above, he was not perfect, there were things i disagreed with him about (and told him so). Nevertheless the fact remains that he, unlike you or me or most of us, lived his entire life for klal Yisrael and died al kiddush HaSh-m. He was a tzaddik. Yehi zichro baruch!
Rabbi Kahane had a funny way of showing respect to Arabs: Addressing them as “dogs”? If a political leader or religious figure in the US ever referred to Jews as “dogs”, I doubt that many of us would regard that as a sign of “respect”.
What was that famous chant during his political rallies? “Mavet l’Aravim”? “Mavet l’smolanim”? While I do not know if Rabbi Kahane ever uttered those words himself–he certainly did not object to hearing it from his followers. They said it in his presence.
Yes, Rabbi Kahane died al Kiddush Hashem–he was killed because he was a Jew. However, thant is not “more than any of his detractors have achieved”–or will achieve, unfortunately. Plenty of Israeli leftists and centrists, who bitterly condemned Rabbi Kahane’s policies, have been killed al Kiddush Hashem.